House Republicans could win 100 or more seats in this fall's elections, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday.

Boehner said he believes there is no seat that the GOP cannot win during this election cycle, judging by Sen. Scott Brown's (R) improbable win in January's special election in Massachusetts....

"At least 100 seats," Boehner said when asked how wide the playing field for districts is. "I do," the top House Republican answered when asked if he thinks there are 100 seats in the U.S. "that could change hands."

You may have read reports from the Obama Administration or seen ads on TV claiming that General Motors has fully paid back what it owes you the American taxpayer.

These claims struck me as odd and misleading. The federal government still owns over 60% of this auto company. This so-called repayment is actually a transfer of $6.7 billion from one taxpayer-funded bailout account to another.

As this is your money, I think you deserve some clarity on this shell game....

The Whiny millionaires of the Major League Baseball Players Association are upset Arizona is going to enforce immigration law. They have issues a veiled threat. Why are these foreign citizen millionaires afraid they will be asked to show their drivers license or other form of ID. You would think foreign citizens making millions of dollars in this country for playing a game would have some gratitude.

“The recent passage by Arizona of a new immigration law could have a negative impact on hundreds of Major League players who are citizens of countries other than the United States. These international players are very much a part of our national pastime and are important members of our Association. Their contributions to our sport have been invaluable...

“The Major League Baseball Players Association opposes this law as written. We hope that the law is repealed or modified promptly. If the current law goes into effect, the MLBPA will consider additional steps necessary to protect the rights and interests of our members.

The latest Rasmussen poll still has Harry Reid's poll numbers at around 40%. Reid has been stuck below 50% for months. An incumbent who polls below 50% is considered to be at high risk of losing their job.

Earlier today, DHS Secretary Napolitano announced that this incident is of national significance and the Department of Interior has announced that they will be sending SWAT teams to the Gulf to inspect all platforms and rigs. And I have ordered the Secretaries of Interior and Homeland Security as well as Administrator Lisa Jackson of the Environmental Protection Agency to visit the site on Friday to ensure that BP and the entire U.S. government is doing everything possible, not just to respond to this incident, but also to determine its cause. And I've been in contact with all the governors of the states that may be affected by this accident.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Al Gore wants to reduce CO2 emissions as long as it's someone else making the sacrifice. As for Al, he just bought a $9 million, six fireplace, five bedroom and nine bathroom villa on the California Coast. Saving the planet from global warming has it's privileges. Just saying...

Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, have added a Montecito-area property to their real estate holdings, reports the Montecito Journal.

The couple spent $8,875,000 on an ocean-view villa on 1.5 acres with a swimming pool, spa and fountains, a real estate source familiar with the deal confirms. The Italian-style house has six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.

Nancy Pelosi was shameless in her praise for deceased Rep. John Murtha. Pelosi said Murtha was, “a tireless advocate for our troops, and Marines in particular.” John Murtha accused the Marines in the Haditha incident of killing Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" before the Marine Corps report was even issued. After charges were dropped against six and the seventh was found not guilty, Murtha refused to apologize or retract his statement. Here is a video of a reporter asking Murtha to apologize after charges were dropped against some of the Marines.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised the Navy’s decision to name an amphibious warship after Rep. John Murtha, but the formal announcement Friday added fuel to an already smoldering backlash online.

Murtha — “our dear Jack,” as Pelosi referred to him — deserved the honor as a tireless advocate for troops generally and Marines in particular, she said, and she recalled admiring his rapport with them.

“Whether on the battlefield, or on the bedside, he thanked them for their courage, listened to their concerns, and asked them for comment — and he answered their needs, and responded to their calls, whether it was for body armor, up-armored vehicles… radios, you name it,” Pelosi said. “In those minutes [together], he bonded with them especially because he would share his own personal military service with them, and cared for them as a father. They knew it, and they returned his respect.”

Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) ripped into the new Arizona immigration law today, comparing it to Nazi Germany.

“This law of ‘frontier justice’ – where law enforcement officials are required to stop anyone based on ‘reasonable suspicion’ that they may be in the country illegally – is reminiscent of a time during World War II when the Gestapo in Germany stopped people on the street and asked for their papers without probable cause,” Mack said in a statement.

“This is not the America I grew up in and believe in, and it’s not the America I want my children to grow up in,” he added.

If we take President Obama at his word, there comes a point when companies and people have made enough money. Logically, it would then be moral in his eyes for the government to confiscate the rest of their earnings. President Obama went off teleprompter and allowed his socialist side to show.

Obama to Wall St.: 'I Do Think at Some Point You've Made Enough Money' (video)

Dem Rep. Anthony Weiner compares the Arizona law, allowing police to enforce immigration law, to Nazi Germany. That is outrageous on its face, but Weiner is lying when he claims people can be stopped on the street and asked for papers. The law only allows checking documents of people after "lawful contact" by police and "reasonable suspicion" of immigration status that may not be solely based on "race, color or national origin." Everyone arrested will have their immigration status checked before release. The police are not allowed to stop people for the purpose of checking documents. That is not "lawful contact" in Arizona or any other state.

B. For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency of this state or a law enforcement official or a law enforcement agency of a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person, except if the determination may hinder or obstruct an investigation. Any person who is arrested shall have the person's immigration status determined before the person is released. The person's immigration status shall be verified with the federal government pursuant to 8 United States code section 1373(c). A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state may not solely consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection except to the extent permitted by the United States or Arizona Constitution. A person is presumed to not be an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States if the person provides to the law enforcement officer or agency any of the following:

1. A valid Arizona driver license.

2. A valid Arizona nonoperating identification license.

3. A valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification.

4. If the entity requires proof of legal presence in the United States before issuance, any valid United States federal, state or local government issued identification.

Proponents of the Arizona immigration law claim opponents don't even know what is actually in the law. The are getting their information from liberal websites and news sources. For instance, many claim the law will lead to racial profiling, but the is specific language in the law prohibiting sole use of race. Add President Obama to the group that doesn't know the contents of the law, unless you think he really meant to endorse the Arizona immigration law. Here is a link to the actual law (pdf.) There is a good summary of the Arizona immigration bill here.

Something just occurred to me in rereading the president’s comments on the Arizona law from Tuesday:

“The truth is that 11 or 12 million folks, we’re gonna have to make them take responsibility for what they did,” Obama said. “And the way to do that is to make them register, make them pay a fine, make them learn English, make them take responsibility for the fact that they broke the law.”

(a) Willful failure to register Any alien required to apply for registration and to be fingerprinted in the United States who willfully fails or refuses to make such application or to be fingerprinted, and any parent or legal guardian required to apply for the registration of any alien who willfully fails or refuses to file application for the registration of such alien shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not to exceed $1,000 or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

So they’re already required to register. That’s from 8 USC 1306(a). It’s also in the new Arizona law. So didn’t the president just endorse the law?

An emerging immigration proposal by three Democratic senators calls for more federal enforcement agents and other border security-tightening benchmarks before illegal immigrants could become legal U.S. residents...

An outline of the proposal does not specify the additional agents or resources required to meet the benchmarks. It does suggest a two-phase system for legalizing people who are in the U.S. illegally.

Of course, Democrats don't really want border security. In 2006 42 Senate Democrats voted against a law to build a border fence. They wanted to consult Mexico.

Forty-two Democrats voted against legislation that would have built a border fence to stop the flow of illegal aliens and drugs across our borders. In fact, it was Democrat Christopher Dodd of Connecticut whose amendment was attached to the legislation that would require the U.S. government to consult with the Mexican government before building a fence along our southern border.

Just six months after Democrats took power in the House, 214 House Democrats voted against a Republican proposal to “provide the funds necessary for the construction of at least two layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barrier, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors pursuant to section 102(b)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1986…”

If anyone falls for this bait-and-switch, they are a naive beyond belief.

Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided come out as a RINO and dump the Republican Party to run as an Independent. Less than two weeks ago Charlie Crist told FOX News' Chris Wallace how proud he was to be a Republican, pledged to not run as an Independent and even promised to support the Republican candidate for Senate whoever it might be. Here is the video.

Crist Rules Out Running For Senate As Independent

FOX News is reporting Crist will come out an an Independent candidate Thursday.

Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist has decided he will run as an independent in the race to fill the Florida U.S. Senate seat, Crist allies tell Fox News. The official announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 5pm ET in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Senate campaign has been rough and tumble for Crist, he was once the front-runner -- but in recent months began trailing his GOP opponent, Tea Party favorite and former Florida State Speaker Marco Rubio. Rubio has been able to turn a 30-point deficit in the polls into a 30 point lead over Crist.

If the FOX News report is correct, Charlie Crist is a liar. No Florida voter should believe anything he promises.

Moonbat Democrat Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is a far left liberal who recently claimed there isn't a requirement to buy health insurance in Obamacare. Last year Wasserman-Schultz ridiculed a Republican attempt to make attacking someone because of their military service a hate crime. Rep. Wasserman-Schultz became outraged and explains (video below) how comparing abused military servicemen and women to "real victims" like blacks and homosexuals is "belittling" to the progressives favorite special interest groups.Wasserman-Schultz: Veterans Are Not "Real Victims"

Now, Nanci Pelosi has appointed this moonbat to the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel created after 9-11.

“I’m sick and tired of Obama and the White House coming out with yet another new crisis that has to be fixed by government sticking it to the people and taking more of what we earn and produce. Instead of allowing our small businesses especially to keep what we earn… But see, to many in the White House including our own president, I don’t know when they’ve run a business. I don’t know when they’ve been a CEO where they had to look out for the bottom line and they had to make payroll and live within their own means with a budget. They’re from government. They’re community organizers. They’ve been spending other people’s money for so long that the free enterprise principles that all of us believe in, it’s all foreign to them.”

Although concerned about civil rights, seventy percent (70%) of Arizona's likely voters support the new law authorizing local police to stop people and check immigration status. Illegal immigrants are responsible for much of the crime in Arizona.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin are jockeying for position in anticipation of Harry Reid losing his re-election bid as Nevada's senator and position as Senate Majority Leader. Even MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell seems to sense the inevitable possibility.

Andrea Mitchell: "There's been no funeral yet. The body is still warm. But they do want to each jockey for position."

The latest target in the battle over fast food is something you shouldn't even put in your mouth.

Convinced that Happy Meals and other food promotions aimed at children could make kids fat as well as happy, county officials in Silicon Valley are poised to outlaw the little toys that often come with high-calorie offerings.

Leftists and Illegal immigrant supporters painted “Burn this Racist City” on an Arizona sidewalk. They have also thrown bottles at police, painted swastikas, rioted and pretended they were aiming guns at police. This story has gotten very little play in the mainstream media. As you can see from the above screen shot, taken today, of a Google search for the term "immigrant supporters riot in Arizona," this story is only being reported by conservative blogs. Just imagine if a Tea Party rally went this way.

RINO Sen. Lindsey Graham says Arizona immigration law will probably be struck down by the courts on constitutional grounds, but he admits he is “not the brightest lawyer in town.” He isn't the brightest Senator either. He doesn't understand this Rasmussen survey that found 60% of voters support the Arizona law. The Politico reported:

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday that the tough new Arizona immigration law will probably be struck down by the courts on constitutional grounds.

While Democrats were touting deficit reduction claims, based on a CBO report, in the run up to the Obamacare vote, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was sitting on a report, from the nonpolitical government's Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which found the Democrats health care bill actually bent the cost curve up and would cause 14 million Americans to lose employer based health coverage.FOX Nation reported:

The economic report released last week by Health and Human Services, which indicated that President Barack Obama’s health care “reform” law would actually increase the cost of health care and impose higher costs on consumers, had been submitted to the office of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius more than a week before the Congressional votes on the bill...

The analysis, performed by Medicare’s Office of the Actuary, which in the past has been identified as a “nonpolitical” office, set off alarm bells when submitted. “We know a copy was sent to the White House via their legislative affairs staff,” says the HHS staffer, “and there were a number of meetings here almost right after the analysis was submitted to the secretary’s office. Everyone went into lockdown, and people here were too scared to go public with the report.”

Obama’s Budget Director thinks Death Panels Medicare Advisory Boards will be very powerful and their decisions will take effect automatically unless the Congress votes them down and the President signs it. Sarah Palin was right.

When President Obama signed his health-care reform last month, he declared it will "lower costs for families and for businesses and for the federal government." So why, barely a month later, are Democrats scrambling to pass a new bill that would impose price controls on insurance?

In now-they-tell-us hearings on Tuesday, the Senate health committee debated a bill that would give states the power to reject premium increases that state regulators determine are "unreasonable." The White House proposed this just before the final Obama- Care scramble, but it couldn't be included because it violated the procedural rules that Democrats abused to pass the bill.

A Rasmussen survey has found 60% of voters nationwide favor letting local police stop people and verify immigration status. Only 31% are opposed. Democrats are pushing to rush immigration reform to the top of their agenda in an attempt to score political points off in the wake of the new Arizona law allowing police to enforce immigration laws. If Democrats keep doubling-down on the wrong side of voters, they will face an Armageddon at the polls this November.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer last week signed a new law into effect that authorizes local police to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 60% of voters nationwide favor such a law, while 31% are opposed.

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans support the law along with 62% of voters not affiliated with either major party. Democratic voters are evenly divided on the measure.

In his letter Mann threatened legal action, claiming the spoof video "illegally used his image and defamed him."

Neither Mann nor Penn State responded to requests for comments...

Davis and No Cap and Trade said they welcome the lawsuit.

The group is eager to conduct an in-depth probe of Mann's work and "finally look at how it was done. We understand why Michael Mann is eager to silence public discussion of the hockey stick scandal, but truth is an absolute defense."

According to Davis, the video was created in the wood-warmed RV that is the "world headquarters " for Minnesotans for Global Warming and its three members, who jokingly think that Minnesota could use a little more heat.

When the letter first arrived, they quickly pulled the video from You Tube and their website because they couldn't afford to defend against a lawsuit...

Obama was stricken with a southern accent while in West Virginia for a memorial tribute to the lost miners who died in an explosion of the Upper Big Branch Mine. Let's hope he recovers soon. Click image for video.

ACORN may still be nuts, but they won't be nuts with federal funds. The Supreme Court is refusing to throw them a lifeline and overturn an Appeals Court ruling freezing their federal funding.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has turned down ACORN’s request for help...

The high court on Friday refused to throw out a decision by the federal appellate court in New York City. That court had decided to freeze a judge’s determination that Congress acted unconstitutionally in yanking the group’s funding.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

President Obama is refusing to go to bat to try save his old Senate seat from falling into Republican hands. In spite of the fact the Democrat in the race, Alexi Giannoulias, is an old Obama basketball buddy, President Obama is unwilling to lay his prestige on the line. The Giannoulias family bank was seized last week; leaving a cloud hanging over the candidate. The Republican in the race is Rep. Mark Kirk. Kirk is leading in recent polling. (see above image from RealClearPolitics)

At the moment, the White House seems open to the idea of losing Obama’s old seat rather than putting the president’s prestige on the line for Giannoulias, the brash and boyish Illinois state treasurer — and onetime Obama basketball buddy — whose campaign has been rocked by the financial meltdown of his family’s bank.

Durbin said Emanuel was sympathetic to his pleas but ultimately noncommittal...

Emanuel, a former congressman from Chicago, tried but failed last year to get Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan into the race. Now, he told Durbin, it’s up to Giannoulias to prove his campaign has enough “viability and strength” to warrant Obama’s involvement.

President Obama continues to break his campaign promise to call the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians 95 years ago genocide. Candidate Obama criticized the Bush administration for not calling the massacre genocide, when he was pandering for the 1.5 million Armenian American votes, and pledged to recognize the Armenian Genocide when he was President. So far, he has lied.

President Obama, who as a candidate vowed to use the term genocide to describe the Ottoman slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians...

“On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that 95 years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began,” Mr. Obama said in the statement, which largely echoed the same language he used on this date a year ago. “In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.”

“As president I will recognize the Armenian Genocide,” he said in a statement on Jan. 19, 2008, that used the word 10 more times.

ABC and FOX are refusing to run a Lane Bryant ad featuring a full-figured model. ABC said there was too much cleavage. Of course, a plus size model should be expected to have more cleavage than an anorexic Victoria Secret model. FOX ran a similar Victoria Secret ad during an 'Idol' episode.

RINO Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is pulling his support for the Democrats Cap-and-Trade bill. Graham is angry Democrats are planning to push immigration reform before the energy bill. Senator Graham has been working with Democrats on immigration reform too, but he thinks it is too politically charged and will poison the atmosphere in Washington.

In a move that may derail a comprehensive climate change and energy bill in the Senate, one of the measure’s central architects, Senator Lindsey Graham, has issued an angry protest over what he says are Democratic plans to give priority to a debate over immigration policy.

Mr. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in a sharply worded letter on Saturday that he would no longer participate in negotiations on the energy bill, throwing its already cloudy prospects deeper into doubt. ...

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Last year, Rasmussen only found 53% of voters were sure capitalism was better than socialism. After getting a taste of what socialism means from Obama and the liberal Democrats running Congress, 60% now say capitalism is better. Democrats still don't get it. Only 43% of Democrats say capitalism is better.

Sarah Palin visited what is considered Oregon's most liberal city, Eugene, Friday. Sarah Palin told about 900 people who attended a fund-raising dinner for the Lane County Republican Party, "Why not be the party of not just no, but hell no." Outside, a handful of liberal protesters waved signs. The female protester in front has a sign saying Eugene: A Hate Free Zone. The protester immediately behind her has a sign saying Hope She Chokes. Protester number two get the epic fail.

Government actuaries for Medicare and Medicaid have released a bombshell report confirming almost everything Republicans said about the downside of passing Obamacre health care reform. 14 million Americans will lose employer-based health care coverage. The health care cost curve will be bent up, not down, $389 billion 10 years. 18 million Americans will be forced into Medicaid and 15% of all Medicare providing doctors will become unprofitable as a result of Obamacare's payment reductions. A separate report this week from the CBO found 4 million Americans will pay $1000 in penalties annually. Obamacare is a disaster of biblical proportions to the American health care system.

Government Releases New Numbers on Obamacare Showing Costs Will Skyrocket (video)

President Obama is blaming blogs and cable for his lack of ability to connect with ordinary Americans. When the mainstream media is a wholly owned subsidiary of the political party in power, it is a threat to all American's freedoms. Bloggers and cable news outlets like FOX News are left the job of exposing Obama and the Democrats lies, duplicity, deception and hypocrisy.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Environmentalists can't get a lucky break. An oil rig exploded and sunk in the Gulf of Mexico this week. Unfortunately, 11 workers are missing after the explosion. Initial reports feared as much as 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day could be leaking from the sea floor. As of Friday morning, the Coast Guard could not find any leaking oil.

No oil appeared to be leaking from a drilling rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said Friday...

The rig burned for nearly two days until it sank Thursday morning. The fire was out, but officials initially feared as much as 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day could be rising from the sea floor nearly 5,000 feet below.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said Friday morning that no oil appeared to be leaking from a well head at the ocean floor...

Obama looked the other way when Black Panthers were violating voting rights, but instructs Justice Department to investigate if checking immigration status violates civil rights. His favored solution is to do immigration reform and five them legal status.

Purple may be the official color of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), but Andy Stern is leaving the union deep in the red. Last week, he surprised the labor community by announcing his resignation as president...

SEIU is $85 million in debt, down from its 2008 high of $102 million, and has been forced to lay off employees.

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger sits on the Obama administration’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Mr. Stern himself was appointed by Mr. Obama to its deficit commission.

A top Senate Republican on Thursday accused the Obama administration of misleading taxpayers about General Motors' loan repayment, saying the struggling auto giant was only able to repay its bailout money by dipping into a separate pot of bailout money.

Sen. Chuck Grassley's charge was backed up by the inspector general for the bailout...

"The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were 'repaid' with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials," he wrote.

Obama received $994,795 in donations from Goldman Sachs employees in 2008 and was visited 4 times in the White House by Goldman Sachs executives, but he calls Republicans the party of Wall Street. President Obama is refusing to give the donations back and hasn't complied with Republican demands to see White House contacts with the SEC during this time period. Obama "categorically denies" any contact with the SEC about Goldman Sachs. Can anyone say "Son of Enron?"

Ron Blagojevich is being prosecuted for allegedly selling his Senate seat. He claims he is innocent and wants to force President Obama to testify. President Obama claims he had no contact with Blagojevich's office during this time, but records but censored court records released by Mediaite indicate Obama was not only involved, but actually seemed to be trying to control the process. Could this implicate Obama in a crime?

These pieces of alleged evidence mostly serve to highlight the level of involvement the President had in the negotiations. He was, according to these conversations, overseeing all the talks and very invested in giving the seat to Senate candidate B (identified in the original federal complaint at IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan, though whether the defense is using the same identification numbers that the federal complaint used is unclear). In fact, if his “Supporter” “offered ‘fundraising’ in exchange for Senate Candidate B,” it would follow that it wasn’t Blagojevich who tried to sell the seat, but the unidentified supporter who tried to buy it.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

In order to get President Obama's endorsement, you don't have to be bright. You just need to be a Democrat. President Obama has endorsed Congressman Hank Johnson (D-Georgia.) Johnson is the moron who asked Adm. Robert Willard at a House Armed Services Committee if the U.S. territory of Guam would "tip over" if the population increased. Amazingly, Adm. Willard kept a straight face.

South Korea's military believes a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank its navy ship last month, based on intelligence gathered jointly with the United States, a news report said on Thursday.

On Monday, the Christian Science Monitor bucked its mainstream peers by reporting something truthful about the TEA party movement: police officials have begun to relax security requirements at conservative rallies because of the remarkable absence of violence.

Yes, you read that right: despite nonstop media warnings about hateful protests, violence from TEA party attendants is so nonexistent that police feel safe allowing them to bring large items and sometimes even guns.

Nearly 4 million Americans – the vast majority of them middle class – will have to pay the new penalty for not getting health insurance when President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law kicks in, according to congressional estimates released Thursday.

The penalties will average a little more than $1,000 apiece in 2016...

Meet the Republican Who Wants to Represent Obama's Hawaiian Hometown District. Republican Charles Djou is current ahead in the Hawaii special congressional election. Charles Djou was on Hannity last night.

President Obama's desire to turn America into a socialistic European country needs more funding. The Europeans have instituted a Value Added Tax (VAT) to accomplish their needs to confiscate large portions of their citizens money.A VAT is a hidden sales tax at every stage of production. Some European countries have VAT taxes as high as 25%. A VAT has been discussed for years by some tax reform advocates as a replacement for income taxes. Unfortunately, Obama doesn't want to replace income taxes, he wants to add a VAT tax on top of income taxes. Undoubtedly, the starting percentage would be a very low 1% or 2%, but, slowly, this would be bumped up to European levels. The worst thing about a VAT tax is it is hidden from the taxpayer as part of the cost of goods. Taxes can be increased more easily under a VAT. Since consumers don't see the VAT amount, they may mistake tax increases for market driven price increases or inflation.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

You just can't make up stuff this good. TOM Smitheringale had to be rescued from his trek to the North Pole to highlight global warming. This is the fourth year in a row global warming alarmists have needed rescue.

Thousands of protesters bused down by labor unions and social service advocates rallied at the Capitol today in an attempt to pressure state lawmakers into raising the income tax to avoid more budget cuts.

A spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White estimated the rally crowd at 15,000...

"Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes!" they chanted, lined up shoulder to shoulder for a few hundred yards stretching a street in front of the Capitol.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has issued a stay on the December 2009 injunction by Clinton-appointed Judge Nina Gershon that declared the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) funding ban was unconstitutional.

The result of the stay is that the Congressional funding ban will go back into effect, and ACORN will not receive taxpayer dollars...

This is unbelievable. There is no logical reason to leave the question of whether the US military would shoot down Israeli aircraft on a mission to take out Iran's nuclear capability up in the air. This can only embolden Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to continue his nuclear weapon dreams.

This is disturbing news. After receiving news of ACORN's impending bankruptcy last month, many Americans thought we had driven a stake through the heart of ACORN's fraud. Now, Bertha Lewis has said in an interview,

The head of activist group ACORN came to a federal court Tuesday to observe a legal fight over its funding...

"We're still alive. We're limping along. We're on life support," Lewis said in an interview just after a government lawyer asked a federal appeals court to temporarily block a judge's ruling that it was unconstitutional for Congress to cut funding to ACORN.

Hopefully, the courts will pull the plug on ACORN's funding once and for all.

Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown disclosed President Obama called him from Air Force One to tell him Democrats are moving forward on immigration reform next month. Obama thinks Brown could be a potential crossover vote in immigration reform. However, Brown said,

“When I said I have an open mind, it means I have an open mind to read the bill. That doesn’t mean that I will vote for granting amnesty to anyone. But I want to be respectful to the president and to any member who brings me a proposal.”

President Barack Obama called Massachusetts’ new Republican senator, Scott Brown, from Air Force One today to deliver some news: Democrats are moving forward with an immigration overhaul in a month.

Brown, in an interview with the Journal’s Neil King Jr., said the president was giving him a heads-up that immigration was coming down the pike...

Alluding to the issue a few minutes later, Brown clarified what he told Obama. “When I said I have an open mind, it means I have an open mind to read the bill,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that I will vote for granting amnesty to anyone...

Finally, Obama is protecting us from unemploymentterroristsIran salt. That's right. Real unemployment is around 17%. Terrorists are hatching new plans for our destruction and mad Mullahs in Iran are building a nuclear bomb. What is President Obama planning to do? He wants to regulate your salt. I don't know about you, but I sure lay awake last night worrying about my salt intake.

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

Statistics are somewhat like expert witnesses in that they can be used to testify for either side depending on what you want to prove. When Michael Alderman, a highly regarded epidemiologist and past president of The American Society of Hypertension scrutinized the same data in patients who were not overweight he reported that "the more salt you eat, the less likely you are to die."--(from heart disease or anything else).

The reason for this is that when you restrict vital nutrients like salt (or cholesterol) all sorts of strange things can result....

There are no research reports that justify putting everyone on a low-sodium diet.